A Short Conversation
by Zanthra Shard
Summary: Early in "All the Weyr's of Pern". Aivas has a suspicion on the cause of Ruth's abnormalities and has a discussion with Jaxom to confirm it.


Disclaimer: The characters and locations in this story are owned by Anne McCaffery, but I own the dialogue.

Aivas worked in silence. It was early in the morning, and the sun just started to charge the solar collectors that tiled the roof. It was programmed to make full use of its processors to compile all knowledge it had available whenever running in full power mode. The curious thing to the computer, or more accurately the unknown for which it put the most effort into deciphering was the question of how a white dragon would be possible. It did not take more than twenty minutes for it to work out a plausible solution to the question, however it was by no means positive on the solution, there was still a lot of missing data.

Conveniently enough it was Jaxom who walked into the communication room that Aivas used to speak to people. Immediately it said to him, "I am trying to understand your Ruth. An attempt to understand how a white dragon could come to being, yet I lack information." It noticed passively that Jaxom tensed at the computers words. Incomprehension pushed this unexpected increase in blood pressure and heart rate to the highest priority.

"What do you know about Ruth," Jaxom asked quickly.

The computer hesitated in responding, a calculated period of time to counteract the reaction that it's databases had identified as "touchy," the subject was clearly an emotional one. From this reaction the computer was able to put together, in these few seconds of pause, with almost absolute certainty what made Ruth white. "You know it is sterile?" the computer asked as kindly as possible.

"He," Jaxom corrected almost instantaneously. The computer had not forgotten Jaxom's reactions in the past to anyone who suggested that Ruth was anything but a small, colorless, normal dragon. It was a calculated mistake, yet the reaction on the health monitors jumped with a strong emotional reaction, hinting at denial. Aivas was now almost certain of its suspicion.

"What simulations I have run on dragon DNA suggests that Ruth has a disease similar to that of 'Klinefelter's Syndrome' in humans. A genetic disease caused by the lack of separation in the gender identifying chromosomes during meiosis," the computer was well aware that nothing of this explanation would be understood by Jaxom, however it was better than everything was explained to him understanding could come later. "While his outward appearance develops from the XY chromosomes of a male, his stunted growth and sterility comes from a genetic confusion caused by a second X chromosome denoting a female." The computer paused again reading the young man's reaction through the multitude of sensors within the room.

Jaxom stiffened, barely noticeable to the perceptive computer, and the computer knew that Ruth was communicating with him. "You would deny that anything is wrong despite the evidence," the computer said, "that is common in parents of children with such diseases." It continued quickly to forestall any objection to the comparison. "Yet Ruth gains something from this genetic mistake that many humans with the similar condition do not. Ruth, while being sterile, does not suffer from the mental retardation that usually accompanies such a genetic failing, in fact conversely Ruth gains from this in terms of mental capacity, particularly in terms of temporal and spatial perception." The computer did a close survey of Jaxoms eyes to check for the possibility of an airborne irritant that was causing the increased productions of his tear glands but found none.

The computer continued since it now had Jaxom's complete attention, "My analysis suggests that Ruth's egg must have been at least one third smaller than the average, probably more, and he would have not formed an egg tooth strong enough to break through it, so you must have known at his birth that he could be physically deformed, yet you are still bothered by his lack of normality."

Jaxom visibly tensed and asked, "You mean he was born this way?"

"He was this way by conception, long before hatching. Dragons such as Mnementh may be strong in body, but Ruth is strong in mind," the computer said as it started to re-designate its processors to other tasks now that the last piece of this puzzle was safely in place. It watched as Jaxom crossed the room and left just as quietly as he arrived. Discussion about Ruth's abnormalities had clearly bothered Jaxom, however the computer knew that Ruth himself could comfort him better than the computer could. Now that it was certain of Ruth's qualities, Aivas could see that the presence of this single white dragon would benefit his plans greatly.

Author note:

The idea for this story came from Jaxom's discomfort in The White Dragon to anyone who might have suggested that Ruth was any lesser of a dragon than any other, combined with my own unanswered curiosity as to the technical reason for Ruth's uniqueness. I settled on Klinefelter's syndrome because the source material suggests that Ruth is somewhat multicolored which suggests multiple gender differentiating chromosome pairs, and fits with his sterility. It's more of a stretch to see how his size and mental capacity fit with Klinefelter's, but humans with the disease tend to be tall and lanky, and have below average IQ, meaning it does have some bearing on those characteristics.


End file.
